March 5, 2015
News from the Shared Ministry 
of
Christ Church, Portsmouth  & 
Trinity Church, Hampton 
In the Episcopal Diocese of NH
 
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Worship Services
The Rev. David "Chip" Robinson

Vicar 

 

All people of faith are welcome to receive Holy Communion at the Lord's Table 


 

Christ Episcopal Church 

1035 Lafayette Road

Portsmouth, NH 03801

Rite II at 10:30 am
Coffee Hour follows
 
Clergy office hours 
Tues & Thurs 9am-12noon

200 High St.
Hampton, NH 03842
Saturday Rite l at 5pm
Rite II at 8:45 am
Coffee Hour after the service
  
Clergy office hours
Mon & Wed 9am-12 noon
 
 
The Vicar's sermons can be found by clicking on the link for either church and going to the Worship page.
Pastoral Care
Leaders
 
Jean Shula
Linda McVay

603-430-9888 (home)
603-988-9755 (cell)
Links

Little Blessings Child Care Center at Christ Church Portsmouth  

Little Blessings Child Care Center 

(603) 431-1809 

at Trinity Church, Hampton

Village Preschool
(603) 929-7349

Episcopal Churches on the Seacoast
 
Seacoast Convocation
 
Christ Church,Portsmouth
St. John's, Portsmouth
St. Thomas, Dover
St. George's, Durham
Ministry Schedule

 

Christ Church
 

Going into the hospital?

 

Due to privacy laws, churches are no longer routinely informed if you or a loved one is admitted to the hospital.  Please be sure you let us know when and where you will be a patient so we can be in touch with you and include you in our prayers and healing ministry. Don't assume the Vicar knows - he would much rather hear from several people than from no one!

 





 

 

Guest column...

The Church that plays together

by Molly Baskette
 

I thought it would be nice to share some thoughts from others in this space during at least some of Lent. This piece was sent to me by Betty Lane of Christ Church.

 

Fr. Chip

*     *     *
Jesus called a child, whom he put among them, and said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."  - Matthew 18:2-3 4:1


As a young doctor, Stuart Brown was doing research into the character of murderers who otherwise had no criminal history. He discovered something amazing, a common thread in 90% of their stories: as children, their play was severely restricted.  

Brown, a workaholic, spent many more decades studying play. He learned that children grow empathy through the rough-and-tumble of play, that play lowers stress (duh!), that play makes us more innovative and helps us adapt to change. He finally got the message, and started to play more.  

Lent is all about being more grownup, right? Serious as a heart attack, grave as the grave.  

But at church, the hub of much of our spiritual practice, how many of us talk exclusively about the "work" of the church? We often treat the stuff we do at church as a kind of bitter endurance contest.  

How often does the phrase "play of the church" enter our vocabulary? What if we played all-ages kickball after church on summer Sundays? Or had adult time in the bouncy house at the block party? Or a polar bear swim at the winter retreat on Cape Cod? Or threw an awkward dance party with bubble machine and disco ball, watched the kids go crazy, and went crazy with them? I have photographic evidence that all these are possible, and more.  

Play, Brown said, is any activity that is purposeless, dissolves ego boundaries, and brings joy. I would add: it's also an activity that delights God, who, after all, was the first one to play. What was the Creation, after all?

 

 

Notes from the Feb. 24 Bishop's Committee meeting

 

Our February meeting was held one week later than usual due to Shrove Tuesday. The meeting, held at Trinity Church, opened with a reflection on winter (physical and spiritual) by Trinity's Senior Warden, Patrice Wood.

 

A major function of this meeting was to organize the Bishop's Committee for the new year. We reviewed "ground rules" for respectful discussion and healthy discourse; assigned Bishop's Committee liaisons to each of our committees and ministries in the two churches (see below); and did some "housekeeping" for the benefit of the Committee.

 

We spent some time making evaluative comments on our recent Mutual Ministry Review retreat. It was considered an excellent gathering and process and the follow-up team set a first meeting date for their work.

 

We reviewed the annual Parochial Reports from each congregation. Both grew (Trinity more so than Christ Church) in 2014 and start the new year in healthy condition. We should know the results of our Fair Share adjustment request by mid-March.

 

The individual Bishop's Committees then met in separate session:

  • Trinity Church's group heard an update on the Hobbs House accessibility project, work for which was to begin the next day. They also discussed fund-raising efforts to pay for the recent extra snow removal. Over half the needed amount has already been donated. There was some discussion about whether or not to reconsider having a Junior Warden. We will monitor things and decide later in the year.
  • Christ Church's committee discussed the upcoming Capital Campaign in that congregation, and set an April 19 date for kicking off the formal planning process. In the meantime, we will recruit chairs for the various aspects of the team. A policy for pre-approving large purchases was set: a $250 threshold was set. Permission for a community group to use the church facilities for a bone marrow drive on May 30 was given.

Full minutes will be posted in each church as they become available. The March meeting will be on the 17th at Christ Church at 7 p.m.


 

Christ Church ministry liaisons for 2015

 

Ministry

Coordinator

2015 BC Liaison

Altar Guild

Liz Malone

Suzanne George

Buildings & Grounds

Craig Davis/Paul Seward

Craig Davis

Children's Faith Form.

Lynda Swartz

Suzanne George

Coffee Hour

Peter Monte

Peter Monte

Church Use

Glen Flowers

Sarah Wolf Boyd

Communications

Liza McGuckin

Lynda Swartz

Diocesan Delegation

Convention Delegates

Craig Davis

Fundraising

Tena Wolf

Lynda Swartz

Hospitality/Meals

Peter Monte

Melanie Harden

Little Blessings Board

Chuck Ott/Susan Ott

still needed

Safe Church Minister

Patsy Tremblay

Sarah Wolf Boyd

Soup Kitchen

Susan Ott

Peter Monte

Stewardship

Kris Ebbeson

Jim Sparrell

Worship

Betty Lane

Sarah Wolf Boyd

 

 

Trinity Church ministry liaisons for 2015

 

Ministry

Coordinator

2015 BC Liaison

Altar Guild

Alberta True

Robert Bischoff

Adult Ed,/Bible Study

Mike Spinelli

Gordon Lane

Buildings & Grounds

John Normand

Patrice Wood

Children's Faith Form.

Needed

Wesley Rowe

Coffee Hour

Patrice Wood/Wesley Rowe

Wesley Rowe

Come and See

Gordon Lane

Gordon Lane

Communications

Patrice Wood

Hope Murray

Diocesan Delegation

Convention Delegates

Robert Bischoff

Food Pantry/Outreach

Sandi Nickerson

Diana Jodoin

Fundraising

Patrice Wood

Hope Murray

Hampton N. Home Svc.

Bob Main

None needed

Prayer Ministry

Anne Newell

None needed

Pastoral Care

Ginnie-Lee McCaddin

Gordon Lane

Safe Church Minister

Sherry Kellett

Wesley Rowe

Soup Kitchen

Ginnie-Lee McCaddin

Hope Murray

Stewardship

To be determined

To be determined

Worship

G. Lane, comm. chair;
P. Bischoff, scheduler

Gordon Lane

 

 

"Spring Forward" this Saturday night!

 

 

This weekend, Daylight Savings Time begins. 


 

Be sure to set your clocks forward one hour before retiring Saturday night, March 7.

 




Amare Cantare concert coming to Christ Church

Amare Cantare welcomes special guest artists Catherine York on piano and the Artful Noise String Quartet to accompany the choir for Mozart's Misericordias Domini and Fern Hill by John Corigliano, a lyrical setting of Dylan Thomas's poem about his pastoral childhood in Wales. The program also includes Samuel Barber's a cappella Reincarnations and Four Slovak Folk Songs by B�la Bart�k, accompanied by Ms. York. A special feature of the concert will be Artful Noise's performance of Land of Pure Delight: Shaker Songs and Dances for String Quartet by New England's own Kevin Siegfried.

 

The concert at Christ Church will be on Wednesday April 1, at 7:30 p.m. General Admission: $15 at the door, $12 in advance. Seniors and Students: $12 at the door, $10 in advance. Advance tickets are available at: Baldface Books, Dover; Flower Kiosk, Portsmouth; Water Street Books, Exeter; Durham Book Exchange, Durham. For more information see www.amarecantare.org

 

Our Lenten series for 2015 continues

 

Our Lenten series for 2015, "The Parables of Lent," focuses on a series of biblical parables that connect to Lenten themes. 

 

Meditations by renowned Lutheran theologian Dean Nadasdy speak of how each parable's plot is a unique message about what we receive through the crucified Christ. 

Parishioners can take the message with them to enrich their own stories of faith in Christ as they journey through Lent.

 

Christ Church: Soup and bread luncheon and session at noon on five Sundays. (We promise to wait for the end of choir rehearsal to actually begin our sessions!)

 

Trinity Church: Soup and bread supper and session on five Wednesday evenings at 6:00.


 

Coming up next: "Receive Mercy: The Parable of the Good Samaritan"

  • Sunday, March 8 at noon, Christ Church
  • Wednesday, March 11 at 6 p.m., Trinity Church

Week Three in The Parables of Lent is based on the parable of the Good Samaritan. In this parable, a man beaten on the road gets help from an unlikely traveler. The service includes a reading from Scripture, a meditation, and a thematic Bible study that helps us to remember that we who are often beaten down along the road of life encounter the healing of Christ through the cross.


 

Our Shared Ministry Cycle of Prayer

 

Each week, in both of our churches, we pray for one ministry we share and one or two households in each church. About once every six weeks, we will instead using the Shared Ministry Collect we prayed throughout the opening months of our Shared Ministry.

 

In our prayers the next two weeks, we give God thanks for...

 

Mar. 8

Online Prayer Ministry of Trinity Church; Gordon Lane & Diana Jodoin of Trinity Church; Suzanne George, Daniel Paul, and Amanda Paul of Christ Church

 

Mar. 15

Pastoral Care Ministries of both congregations; Barbara Hall of Trinity Church; Kathy & Bill Geisendorfer of Christ Church

 

 

Shared Ministry Office Hours Update

 

Nita Niemczyk will be out of the office on Tuesday, March 10.  As always, if you have a pastoral emergency, please contact Fr. Chip directly.

 

Contacts
The Rev. David "Chip" Robinson, Vicar
Christ Episcopal Church, 1035 Lafayette Road, Portsmouth, NH 03801
phone: 603-436-8842
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00-Noon

Trinity Episcopal Church, 200 High Street, Hampton, NH 03842
Shared Ministry Administrator: Nita Niemczyk
phone: 603-926-5688
Office hours: Monday-Friday from 9:00-1:00